On Friday, the United States of America revealed that it had over 500 000 confirmed cases of Covid-19. This is despite many states being in full lockdown, which has seen a slow-down in the infection rate.

The virus is spreading to approximately 30 000 people each day. This means that almost a third of the worlds 1.6 million cases of the virus are in the US.

US deaths exceeded 18 600 on Friday and officials have cautioned that the peak will hit this week and the fatalities are set to rise.

Briefly.co.za learned that Dr Anthony Fauci, the US infectious disease expert has warned that restrictions should not be relaxed.

“Now is no time to back off,” he said.

Like every other country which has been forced to adopt strict social distancing measures, the US economy has struggled to grow with job-losses reported to exceed 20 million in April according to SABC.

The opposition party is frustrated by what it views as a 'lack of accountability', with leader John Steenhuisen criticising the lack of remote Parliamentary meetings since the start of the lockdown.

Ramaphosa is making the wrong move as far as the DA is concerned, despite approval from the Economic Freedom Fighters and the Freedom Front Plus.

Steenhuisen feels that the economic crisis has the potential to threaten more lives than the coronavirus itself:

“Each death resulting from the virus is a tragedy. But so is each death resulting from caged citizens and frustrated law enforcers, and each malnourished child, and each newly unemployed South African. Lives are threatened by our economic and financial collapse as a result of further lockdown regulations.”

Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news!